Max real space in a varbinary(max) in SQL Server

Implement SQL Server 2012 (codename Denali) when it's released - it has FileTable feature :)

varbinary(8000) is limited by 8000 bytes - that's for sure!
varbinary(max) is limited by 2 gigabytes
varbinary(max) FILESTREAM is limited by your file system (FAT32 - 2 Gb, NTFS - 16 exabytes)

Taken from here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188362.aspx:

max indicates that the maximum storage size is 2³¹-1 bytes

which is 2 147 483 647 bytes. I'm not sure why it stops at 29.9MB.

What version of SQL Server are you using?

Varbinary on MSDN for SQL Server 2008 explicitly says that VarBinary(MAX) is for use when "the column data entries exceed 8,000 bytes."

Also, I would also take a look at the Filestream Capabilities in SQL Server 2008 if that is the server you are using.

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